New twist in the tale of two Caravaggios

The 'copy' of Caravaggio's The Taking of Christ hung in the National Gallery of Ireland

By Bruce Johnston in Rome and Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent

12:01AM GMT 17 Feb 2004

Caravaggio's The Taking of Christ, one of the most heavily symbolic paintings of the Baroque, has hung in pride of place in the National Gallery of Ireland for 10 years.

Though the artist is, of course, Italian, the Irish government has proclaimed the work, missing for 200 years before it turned up on the walls of a Jesuit residence in Dublin in 1990, to be "one of Ireland's long hidden treasures". But pride may be about to take a fall.

Experts say that they have discovered Caravaggio's real painting in Rome. Dublin's painting is a copy, they say - which is particularly bad luck on the Irish as everybody agreed it was a copy until 1990.

In Rome Maria Letizia Paoletti said she had "cast-iron proof" that a painting in the possession of a picture dealer in the city was the original version of The Taking of Christ, painted in 1602.

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She told The Telegraph that the attribution was "exceptionally important" for the art world.

She disclosed that the British art historian Sir Denis Mahon, considered the foremost expert on Italian art of the period, had examined the painting with her several days ago during a visit to Rome. He was in "full agreement" over her attribution.

"His reaction was immediately positive," Mrs Paoletti said. "He had no doubt now that this was the original work.

"The discovery will now force specialists to reconsider exactly how to place the Dublin painting in the context of Caravaggio's work."

The quest for The Taking of Christ has been something like the search for the Holy Grail. Caravaggio (1571-1610), whose real name was Michelangelo Merisi, is one of Italy's best-loved painters and produced only around 70 works.

In The Taking of Christ, which vanished in the late 18th century, the artist shows the terrible moment when Judas Iscariot betrays Christ in the garden of Gethsemane.

Caravaggio shows the two clasping hands (bottom of picture), indicating a partnership in the creation of a saviour through betrayal. The figure on the extreme right, holding a lantern, is Caravaggio himself, painted in as a witness to the fatal embrace.

The Dublin version had been hanging in the dining room in a house of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in the city since the 1930s. It was attributed to Gerard von Honthorst, known as Gerard of the Nights, a Dutch follower of Caravaggio.

A decision was made to clean it and when layers of dirt and varnish were removed, it was identified by the Italian expert Sergio Benedetti, head curator at the National Gallery of Ireland, as Caravaggio's long-lost masterpiece. It has been on long-term loan there since.

When in 1943 the Italian critic Roberto Longhi examined the painting now claimed to be the original in Rome, he found its subject matter and style to be strongly suggestive of Caravaggio. But he felt it to be by "too weak a hand" to be able to attribute it to the Italian master.

Now, tests carried out using modern technology on the same painting during its cleaning have led Sir Denis, Mrs Paoletti and other experts to agree that the work is "without question" the original.

Tests including colour comparisons, x-rays and infra-red examination had produced results that had "dovetailed perfectly" with tell-tale signs of Caravaggio's hand in his other paintings. Mrs Paoletti said: "When I first set eyes on the painting in Rome, I had a strong hunch that it was a Caravaggio.

"At the end of six months of painstaking investigations and cleaning, I can safely say that it is unquestionably Caravaggio's original work of The Taking of Christ." Tests on the lower layers of the painting in Rome showed it to relate closely to Caravaggio's other known works, she said.

The most important similarity was the way he had altered the work as he had progressed by repainting over some details, including an arm whose position he later completely changed.

Tests carried out by Sapienza University in Rome showed that colours in the painting - and in the earlier details which had later been painted over - and Caravaggio's other works all matched. By contrast, tests on the Dublin work had revealed only signs of "corrections" in the lower layers of paint "rather than serious afterthoughts as was Caravaggio's wont".

This suggested that someone else, not Caravaggio, had painted the other work according to a pre-established plan, said Mrs Paoletti.

She added: "Every expert who has seen the painting in Rome agrees with myself and Sir Denis, apart from Benedetti, which of course is understandable, since the new attribution throws the old one into doubt."

The claims threw Dublin on the defensive yesterday. A spokesman for Dr Raymond Keaveney, the director of the National Gallery of Ireland, said: "Without seeing the original article [from Italy] where the suggestion has been made, it is not our procedure to comment."